As our summer schedule (posted last week) indicates, we probably aren't going to be on board with allowing the girls to completely slack over summer vacation. Truth be told, I lean heavily in favor of year-round school, but recognize that option will not be happening in my district any time soon due to budget cuts and a looming county bankruptcy.
Since implementing our summer program a few weeks ago, I have seen a couple of online articles about maintaining summer learning activities. The first, here, is from Erin Kane, co-host of the Manic Mommies podcast. I especially like her resources. She has rising 4th and 1st graders so I am saving her links for future reference, as the girls get older.
Next, as a counter-point, I ran across this article from GreatSchools.com, addressing the summer homework requirements of some high school students. This article also makes a good point and echos several pieces I have read lately about the issue of excessive homework (read: "busywork"). We have many years before we get to this extreme so I will deal with this when necessary. I suspect my opinion will be that moderation is key to keeping "buy in" from the student and incentivize the work itself. For example, I can foresee having a summer book club with my children when they are older, but I doubt that I would expect them to have read 30 substantial literary works over their summer break. In short, I would hope to strike a quality over quantity balance (read: definitely not "busywork," to which I am strongly opposed).
Like most issues, we find ourselves squarely in the middle on this topic. We do not want to have a situation where our children have completely checked out for the summer, but we do not want to go overboard either. The bottom line is that summer should be a time for fun and that includes the learning opportunities that are provided, which is why we are sneaking our workbooks in between arts and crafts activities.
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